After high school I attended North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University and wanted to be a hardware engineer. My previous exposure to electrical engineering combined with the fact that I was intrigued by circuits and circuit design, helped me to figure out that I wanted to major in Electrical Engineering.
As an EE major, my first programming classes were Assembly and Fortran. When I graduated, I worked in the private industry as an electrical engineer and began to do more software programming including designing graphical user interfaces (GUIs) designs for circuit board testing and missile and radar systems.
While trying to figure out what to do next I decided to pursue my interest in gaming and Intelligent Tutoring Systems by enrolling in the Computer Science PhD program at Drexel University.
My advisors had backgrounds in computer science, gaming, and cognitive psychology. Through coursework and research, I became interested in how the brain processes information. My research focused on behavioral modeling and mobile learning and I focused my dissertation research on creating intelligent tutoring systems for handheld devices, e.g. Palm Pilots, and early handheld devices.While I enjoyed teaching, I also wanted to learn more in the policy arena that could greatly effect the broader community and I decided to apply for the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Science & Technology Policy Fellowship.
Fortunately, I was selected for the program and took an unpaid leave of absence from Bowie State to do the fellowship at the National Science Foundation in Washington, DC. During the fellowship I worked on a range of projects including broadening participation in computing, computer science education, and the maker movement. I also joined a great team and produced two National Maker Faires that brought together makers from across the country during the National Week of Making.
